He was born in Oujda (northern Morocco) on August 8, 1939, received a doctorate in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University in 1968. After working in the United States for a few years, he joined Sonatrach in 1971, and became president of the Valhyd Group in 1973-1976. In 1980 he joined the World Bank, working on petroleum-related projects; he retired from it in 1999, only to join President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's cabinet later that year. As Minister for Energy, he presided over a period of increasing liberalization of the formerly strictly state-owned petroleum market in Algeria.

In 2001, he was named president of Sonatrach, and he nominated and was succeeded by Mohamed Meziane in 2003 (MEM.) He was also president of OPEC for the year of 2001.

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